I can’t believe it’s already been a week since we got here but at the same time it feels like we have been here for a while now. In one week, I have already experienced so much but I still can’t believe I am here…In Colombia, on The World Race!
There is so much I want to write about but at the same time, it is so hard to get words down.
To start: here are some updates and pictures to let you guys into month 1, week 1 of my time in Colombia.
-We are staying at an organization called The City of Refuge (Ciudad de Refugio). This foundation helps those who are homeless and/or are addicted to drugs/alcohol. Some locals enter into a rehab program to break away from drugs/alcohol and are given a job like cooking, cleaning, transportation services and more. During the week the men and women also take part in bible studies and worship services. The men and women in the program sleep in the building we stay at and the first floor welcomes the homeless to sleep, shower and eat food.
-This month is all squad month which means 45ish of us are all staying at Ciudad de Refugio. It is definitely Community Living for sure. (Welcome to my Crib video coming soon). The women sleep on the 3rd floor, and even though there is only one bathroom in our room, our bags align the walk area and our sleep mats all touch each other with no space to put anything, I think we are all handling it extremely well. We manage with what we have and have made it work.
-The wonderful women of the organization make our meals for us every day. We either eat a croissant with melted cheese inside for breakfast from the bakery or homemade bread and scrambled eggs. Lunch is the biggest meal where we get rice with some kind of side and meat and a light coleslaw type salad. Sometimes we get a soup with potatoes and other yummy things. For dinner we get a deli meat and cheese sandwich. (Still getting used to all this bread intake but so thankful that they provide this for over 40 people every day.)
-Oh and check out our awesome roof Terrace that overlooks the city of Medellin and the mountains that surround us!
-It is noisy day and night with the people on the streets and the homeless who are sleeping in our building but it weirdly comforts me and reminds me that, even though we all have different lives and circumstances…we are all children of God and deserve to feel happiness, hope, joy, love and peace. I hope in this time, we are able to share some light into the community so that they feel loved and worthy and can pass on the light to others.
Speaking of that, we have already been able to be a part of so much here at the Refuge.
-We spent time at a worship service on Wednesday night where anyone on the street are welcome. Even though the music was in Spanish, we all still really enjoyed our time and tried our best to sing along.
-Wednesday night 15 of us including myself went to this specific street that fills up with heavy drug users. The ministry is called Aguapanella and some of us handed out sugar water with bread and some of us walked up and down the streets to talk with and pray over the people. I’m not sure if I could ever clearly explain what that experience was but I was not prepared for it to say the least. Think of being at the start of a street festival and looking into the crowd of people. This is how many people come to this one street to feel safe but also to heavily take part in drugs and for some women, prostitute their bodies.
Even with that many people on drugs, using drugs, selling drugs, mixing up drugs, we weren’t afraid. These people deserve to hear about Jesus, to be heard and cared for. This will be a continuous weekly opportunity for our Squad to take part in.
Thursday-We were put in different groups to do different ministries. Some did prayer walks and kids ministry, some went offsite to a new ministry where they will be working with children at a school for the next few Thursdays. Some of the guys stayed and hung out with the men in the program and held a bible study and ended the day with playing soccer. Myself and 5 other girls from my team stayed and worked with the women.
We cooked/cleaned in the morning which was a joy to get to know the women. Then we held a bible study for the women in the program. I LOVED spending time with them. The language barrier didn’t even seem to be a problem. Valarie on our squad speaks Spanish and has been such a blessing. She translates for us so well that it doesn’t even feel like we are speaking two different languages. We were able to get to know the women more, laugh, tell our stories and talk about Jesus and the Bible together. Since then, we have created such a beautiful bond and love seeing each other every day.
The group of us that worked with the women at the cute bakery on the 1st floor
Thursday night some of the squad went out to a different part of the city to pray for people and let them know about the City of Refuge. Those of us that stayed back prayed for them on the roof top. We call this intercession where we pray to God for them specifically. We had moments to ourselves and moments where we prayed out loud together. It started to rain but we stayed outside huddling under the little cover we had. We sang worship songs out loud but still praying by ourselves and then we ended by worshipping together. I have never officially been a part of an intercession before but it was really awesome.
Friday-Sat-the day that brought tears to my eyes (in a good way)-20 of us went to a city in the mountains called Manatiales. Though the ride up there was a bit scary-still not sure how two buses can pass by each other without touching-our end location was breathtaking. We stayed on a gated compound that just felt so peaceful with beautiful views. I am not a city girl my friends so when we got to the place we were sleeping at for the night, I was filled with so much joy that it actually brought tears to my eyes. We were told that this city has a huge population of displaced people. People who left their countries for refuge. The government provided them with safe water but then the gangs in the area took over and make the people pay for the clean water. During the day you would never know that the area is taken over by gangs and that it is unsafe at night.
I will definitely be writing more about this experience but in short: we walked up and down the mountains in the community handing out goody bags to the children. An area where families that had very little, welcomed us with the biggest smiles. This place definitely changed our lives more than we did theirs. We prayed for people, talked with families, and at one point we all had a child or two hanging off us or on our backs walking through the area. The kids will always have a place in my heart. We were able to give hugs and kisses to all the kids and play the simplest games that brought so much laughter to everyone.
Sunday-Prayer walk in the morning then church with the community including those from Manatiales who were bused in. This was my first time on an intentional prayer walk. I went with a few people on my Squad and we just walked around the block. Prayer is so important and can change lives. There were times we stopped and prayed together when we felt a heaviness in a certain spot.
One of our Squad Leaders-Nick-told us that when you have that heaviness in your heart/body it is the Holy Spirit and the Devil fighting against each other. The devil has a strong hold on this world but The Holy Spirit wants to take it over and free people from brokenness, sin, fear, anxiety, corruption, addictions, depression, lies etc. When you put your hope and trust in Jesus, He can bless you in so many ways including breaking those chains that are holding you back from living a life full of love.
-Church was awesome-Thankful for little devices that allows us to listen to the message in English by a translator.
After dinner we had team worship on the terrace. We have so many talented people on our team including those who are musically inclined. We sang songs together, listened to one of our own teammates John give a message, prayed and danced together. This was much needed time as a Squad together. Even though we are under one roof it is hard to spend quality time with all of us.
Mon-Tue are our off days and will be for the rest of our time in Colombia. A group of us decided to go Paragliding (I got some footage on GoPro which I will share soon). The ride up the mountain was beautiful! Definitely different than city living. I thought I would have panicked a little more but it was such a cool experience. I only had one thought the whole time about how scary it would be if my seat unlatched but besides for that it was a heavenly, relaxing experience.
Today-spent some quiet time with Jesus on the terrace (common place to have our alone time) and then walked around our area. Went to the supermarket and bought fruit people! I appreciate how easy it is to just buy fruit and eat it at any time I want back home. Not that you can’t here but because we get food from the organization and we are so busy and don’t have storage, it just isn’t as easy.
Laurie found a cute coffee shop so a few of us are here writing our blogs!
I am so sorry for writing such a long blog but I didn’t know how else to explain what we are doing here. IF you made it to this point…THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS AND STAYING INTERESTED!
Big things are already happening here and it’s only been a week! We have already seen healings and people come to know Jesus. We are building relationships and learning that love has no borders. English is barely spoken around here so communication is tricky but thank God for my high school Spanish teacher Ms. Thorne, for translators, for Brittany, Valarie and John on our squad who speak Spanish and Google Translate. No joke, I had a whole convo with my uber driver using Google Translate.
I plan to post a video soon and will be posting more about how God is changing my life and the lives around me.
A Smile and Hug can go along way! Be Kind and Love others <3
I would not be here if it wasn’t for your support and love!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
Love,
Kristen xoxox
